Process

This has been a particularly exciting planning process because RISCA was able to partner with the City of Providence and its Department of Art, Culture + Tourism (Lynne McCormack, director), which was about to
begin a year-long cultural planning process with Dr. Craig Dreeszen, one of the
nation’s preeminent cultural planners. The City and its artists and organizations make up a significant part of our
statewide arts community; Rhode Island's unique size allows for an
economy of scale in planning and needs assessment; and the work for the
City of Providence could be expanded fairly easily in order to produce a City and
State report that would then form the basis of the State Arts Council's strategic planning
efforts.

Public Notice

The Council and its community partners made a strong effort to be inclusive in seeking public comment and information to assist in the planning process. Beyond the extensive reach and rich amount of information into the urban needs of our state provided by our relationship with the City of Providence cultural planning process (with literally hundreds pf artists and others participating in the process) RISCA reached beyond the urban areas into rural and suburban communities, through meetings with affinity groups (composers, General Operating Support organizations, literature, theatre, etc) for public comments and suggestions.

Click here to see email communication with Rhode Island arts community soliciting their assistance with the planning process.

Statewide Survey

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism (ACT) conducted a 2008 constituent survey in partnership. RISCA is sampling constituent opinions as the agency updates its strategic plan. AC+T is assessing Providence citizens on behalf of the Creative Providence, city-wide cultural plan.

An excellent response of 2,027 survey replies provides a good sample of constituent opinions. Planners are comparing survey results to focus groups, forums, and other data as survey results do not necessarily reflect opinions of all Rhode Island citizens. Respondents are well balanced by residency across the state and age. Those who completed the survey are more older, often female, better educated, more affluent, more white than the general population. Artists and interested citizens are the largest two groups of survey respondents and core constituents of RISCA and ACT. Nearly two thirds of survey respondents reside outside the City of Providence.

Focus Groups

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts convened representative constituents to gather information to inform RISCA strategic planning. Specifically, we sought to hear constituent opinions on two questions: 1) the state of the arts in Rhode Island, opportunities and challenges, and needs of constituents; and 2) advice to RISCA on policies, programs, goals, and strategic priorities. Assessment data from focus groups complement interviews, statewide survey, interviews, and Providence forums. Focus groups (like the group that met in Newport - right) assured that statewide constituents participate in RISCA planning.

Board/Staff Retreat

On March 21, 2009 the RISCA board and staff held a planning retreat in the board room of the Providence Performing Arts Center. It was a well-attended and extremely productive work session.

Three "report outs" were generated at this meeting on the topics of "Leadership and Advocacy," "Sustaining Artists and Organizations" and "Communications and Connections." Links to a video record of each presentation can be found below.

Preparing to Plan

The following is the draft timeline for the new 2013-2014 planning process, based loosely on our last planning process:

Dates

RISCA Assessment and Planning – Key Tasks

Jan 2013

Planning Committee meets to review work plan & schedule; make decision on planning consultant, start to identify constituents for focus groups and interviews; and start to identify issues and assessment questions.

Prepare for and determine agenda for planning retreat. Determine key issues for planning.

Oct-Nov

RISCA Council and staff meet in day-long planning retreat to determine broad goals, priority objectives, and overall strategies that will broadly define the new plan. Consider if assessment findings warrant overall changes to RISCA grants and services. Consultant reports results and starts to outline the plan with a preliminary draft by Dec 10.

Dec

Consultant meets with the staff to further develop the plan’s goals and objectives.